Taunus is a class M planet located in the Certax Alpha system in the galaxy's Alpha or Beta Quadrant.
Specifics[]
Surface exposure results in accelerated hyper-aging to animal lifeforms, on the order of fifty human years within a few hours.
Taunus appears gray from orbit, with snowy mountains and thick plant lifeforms on its lowlands which grow at a rapid pace. It has a breathable atmosphere and gravity comparable to Earth.
History[]
In 2267, a surveyor starship crashed on Taunus, but its SOS continued to transmit. As weeks passed, foliage engulfed the ship.
Six weeks later, while searching for the surveyor, Nyota Uhura tracked the SOS to Taunus. Technician Chalmers landed the Galileo on Taunus near the source of the distress call, but neither James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, or a crewman could spot the crash site. Chalmers panicked when he realized he was aging and fled by himself in the Galileo, only to destroy the shuttlecraft against a mountainside.
Surveyor personnel were found reduced to skeletons by hyper-aging. The search party was beamed back to the starship USS Enterprise, with the transporter returning the personnel to their normal ages. Kirk believed that Taunus would remain unexplored forever. (TOS comic: "The Aging World")
- Kirk observed that the plants grew as fast as the people aged, but no causal relationship was established.